A Clever Collection of 40+ Inspiring Ambigrams

An ambigram as defined by Wikipedia, "is a typographical design or artform that may be read as one or more words not only in its form as presented, but also from another viewpoint, direction, or orientation." To simply put, an ambigram is a typographical creation where the word reads the same when upside down, or flips to create a whole new word. Ambigrams are often very sophisticated and very imaginative typographical style of visual design.

So let's take a look at some delightful graphic logotypes that read the same when they are reversed or flipped upside-down.

Introduction

Although ambigrams became more popular as a result of Dan Brown's bestseller novel Angels & Demons, the book cover of which had ambigrams designed by John Langdon, ambigrams have been around for more than a century. John Langdon and Scott Kim are regarded as pioneers and inventors of the modern day ambigram who have been most responsible for their popularization. Today, ambigrams are available on a variety of products and have also become popular for tattoos.

There are various Types of Ambigrams like rotational ambigrams, mirror-image ambigrams, chain style ambigrams etc. but the most common and widely used type of ambigram is Rotational Ambigram, where the word reads the same when inverted or rotated 180 degrees (i.e. flipped both vertically and horizontally). Just like any design, creating an ambigram doesn't have any set guidelines or steps, it usually depends on the words and the typographical style that a designer wants to represent. A good ambigram is one which is readable and aesthetically harmonious.

Ambigrams are not easy to create, it requires the practice of looking at typographical ideas from more than one vantage point, but a finished ambigram is a piece of art. In this article we have featured some great ambigrams (logos and otherwise). And to quote Wired Magazine, "Ambigrams are the hottest trend in typography since Helvetica." Let's look at some awesome ambigrams.

Tessellation with two 90° centers of rotation designed by Scott Kim. This design practices synergy in two ways first, the word crosses itself four times at two different types of junctions: S becomes Y and E becomes R. Second, letters are joined in pairs, reducing the number of modules to just three.

Oh yes, that's mine! With so many brilliant and inspiring ambigrams around, who would not get inspired? I surely was, and tried my hands at making an ambigram from my first name, Sonali. I have also written a walk-through on how I made the ambigram.

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